1959 "Classic Epic", as its subtitle goes, deserves its reputation as tightly-written, well-researched and accurate military non-fiction. from the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc to the 82nd All-American Airborne airdropping behind enemy lines, Ryan`s work is complete and detailed. WW2 historians probably enjoy pointing out that the entire D-Day Allied casualties was less than three days`s casualties in the Battle of Stalingrad (which raged for half a year), but, well, there was risk, there was planning, there was plenty of hard work. we cannot deny the Canadians their due.

ha... actually, statistically, D-Day was a Canadian invasion based on number of troops contributed versus population. thought I would throw that military arcana out there. the raid at Dieppe was also Canadian, I believe. guess I know more military trivia than I know what to do with. of course, statistically, the USA was the largest contributor of troops-- it`s just that the US has a much larger population than Canada.